August 11, 2008
Transparency reports: teacher pensions, state overtime
In the latest effort to make public records accessible to the public, the Buffalo News posted annual pensions for retired teachers, using data from the New York State Teachers Retirement System.
In its story, "New York State educators hit pay dirt with pensions," the Buffalo News reports retired North Tonawanda Superintendent John H. George's pension of $205,809 exceeds his former salary. When he retired in 2006, he cashed in 195 unused sick days and 426.5 unused vacation days, boosting his final year's pay used to calculate his pension by $314,675.
On Monday, the Buffalo News focuses on double-dipping school superintendents in western New York. For example, Pioneer Central School District Superintendent David F. Kurzawa retired at 56 with a $87,175 pension and immediately went to work as an interim superintendent for another district at $90,000 for 11 months.
The News also explains how teacher pensions are calculated and solicits reader reaction.
The Albany Times Union followed Friday's story on highly paid state workers--including one taking home $1.52 million in 2007--with two other eye poppers.
Its Sunday story began:
If you work for New York state and make $100,000 or more, you have lots of company.
At least 20,000 state employees reached or exceeded six-digit compensation, according to a Times Union examination of pay records for 2007 for nearly 375,000 state and public authority employees. The review included overtime paid to more than 125,000 people.
On Monday, the Albany Times Union reports 121,000 state employees earned $459 million in overtime last year, some doubling or tripling their base salaries with overtime pay. For example:
Leading the list was Cynthia McAdams, a development aide at Western New York Disabilities and Development Services. She put in 3,110 overtime hours, amounting to 100-hour work weeks on average....Her overtime checks totaled more than $87,000. Total pay: $126,459.
SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire Center's transparency site, was launched July 31. It includes: the state payroll; copies of teachers and school superintendent contracts for more than 700 school districts; legislative expenditures; and a searchable list of legislative member items.
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